It's Kind of A Funny Story (2010)

It's Kind of A Funny Story Synopsis

What’s a 16-year-old boy doing playing music and table tennis with adult psychiatric patients – on a school day? It’s kind of a funny story…It’s Kind of a Funny Story, adapted from Ned Vizzini’s 2006 novel of the same name, is the new comedy-drama from acclaimed writer/directors Ryan Fleck & Anna Boden. It’s 5:00 AM on a Sunday in Brooklyn. Craig Gilner (played by Keir Gilchrist of United States of Tara) is bicycling up to the entrance of a mental health clinic; this bright 16-year-old is stressed out from the demands of being a teenager. Before his parents (Lauren Graham [of Parenthood] and Jim Gaffigan [of Away We Go) and younger sister are even awake, Craig checks himself into Argenon Hospital and is admitted by a psychiatrist. But the youth ward is temporarily closed – so he finds himself stuck in the adult ward. One of the patients, Bobby (Zach Galifianakis of The Hangover), soon becomes both Craig’s mentor and protege. Craig is also quickly drawn to another 16-year-old displaced to the adult ward, the sensitive Noelle (Emma Roberts of the upcoming Scream 4), who just might make him forget his longtime unrequited crush Nia (Zoe Kravitz of the upcoming Mad Max). With a minimum five days’ stay imposed on him by the adult ward’s staff psychiatrist Dr. Eden Minerva (Academy Award nominee Viola Davis), Craig is sustained by friendships on both the inside and the outside as he learns more about life, love, and the pressures of growing up.

Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck heard this a lot as they did press for their new film, but it's true: It's Kind of a Funny Story, which opened last Friday, is a big shift for the directors of Half-Nelson and Sugar

Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck have teamed up to make two pretty excellent movies, Half-Nelson and Sugar, on minimal budgets and with virtually no known actors. While you might suggest they not mess with a winning formula

Galifianakis would be one of the major adult characters, which I guess makes him one of the mental patients. Emma Roberts is apparently also in talks to be part of the film, as the teenage love interest of the main character. Boden and Fleck are fascinating filmmakers

Ryan Fleck and Anna Boden made one of the best films of the first half of this year, the underseen baseball drama Sugar, not to mention breaking out with their first film, Half-Nelson. Now Focus Features is taking them on